A/N: I'm so sorry it's taking me forever to update. I went to Virginia Beach with my dad all of last week and school started yesterday. So, I hope this chapter is better than I think it is.

Ghosts of Her Past—Chapter Four: A Friend You Can Count On

"'Not again. Not again…' "

Why do I do this to myself? Stop thinking about it! Stop it. Just… stop. Thoughts swirled in Glinda's already reeling mind.

"Glinda?" Gabrielle broke her concentration. "Are you okay? You keep spacing out, and yelling things seemingly out of nowhere."

Am I okay? "N-No. I'm not okay. My best friend is dead, Oz thinks she was a terror, and now I've been reduced to spilling my heart out to the only person to visit me in a long, long, time—and a teenager at that!"

Glinda's words stung. "I-I want to be more than just a teenager to you. I want to help you get out of this… emotional slump you've been in. I can't make the pain go away, but I can share it with you. I will mourn Elphaba. I will try to take some of the weight off of your shoulders. I can help."

Can that really happen? Can I still be helped? Hasn't it been too long for that? I needed consoling fifteen years ago. Fifteen! Help always comes too late. If there is an Unnamed God out there, why hasn't He put me out of my misery? Why hasn't He helped me? Elphaba's father—what was his name? Frexspar?—was a unionist to the Unnamed God, and look at the children he had… Oh, right… Elphaba isn't his child. That stupid Wizard just left Melena pregnant. He was a jerk even before he rose to power. Glinda tried to choke out some of her thoughts without success. Gabrielle kept staring, and Glinda couldn't find her voice to tell her to stop. Elphie, what's happened to me? I shouldn't be this way. I wish it could've turned out differently than it did. Things shouldn't end like that!

Tears welled up in her eyes again, and Gabrielle finally looked away at the sight. Glinda was ashamed to be in this state with her only company. She couldn't help it. Things tended to bottle up and build when there's no one to trust. Still, happiness isn't easily obtained—at least, true happiness isn't.

"Glinda, please," Gabrielle said, "I want to be able to help you, but I can't if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong? My life went wrong! My whole kingdom collapsed on me! I lost everything! Well, not everything… just the things that mattered." The tears finally fell down Glinda's wrinkled cheeks. "Nothing was the same. Nothing will ever be the same anymore. Not for me, or even all of Oz!"

"But, how would this affect the rest of Oz? As far as I can tell, the only really affected lives are yours, Elphaba's, Boq's, and Fiyero's," Gabrielle said.

"Only ours? Gabrielle, have you forgotten already the things I've told you about Elphaba at school? She could've been a great politician! I could've been more than an icon! Boq might not've been much, but he'd still be something! Fiyero would've inherited the Vinkus from his father, and him and Elphaba could've gotten officially married. Don't you see? This isn't how it was meant to be. Not at all how it should be." Glinda ended the conversation with a flick of her wrist.

Gabrielle glanced at the clock. "Dear me, Glinda! I seem to have stayed much longer than I should have. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Goodbye, then," Glinda responded stiffly.

Gabrielle walked out of Glinda's house with her mind almost as troubled as Glinda's was. Almost.

(PAGEBREAK! The stupid document manager isn't working right. So there!)

Over the next few days, Gabrielle continued to visit Glinda. She learned more and more about how much Glinda cared for her lost friends. Her pity for the depleted social icon increased day by day. She tried to convince her friends to see Glinda, too, but they wouldn't listen.

"She's crazy!" "You aren't serious!" "No, way!" she got in reply. They believed the rumors flitting about.

Aspirated, she went to ask the last person to come with her, her friend Karrossa.

Gabrielle walked up to Karrossa's house and knocked on the door. The manservant answered, and immediately led Gabrielle to the living room. Soon, Karrossa came in.

"Hi, Gabrielle!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, Karrossa," Gabrielle replied. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something, and you have to promise not to say anything until I'm done, okay?"

"Um… okay." Karrossa had a bad feeling about this.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard that I've been visiting Glinda the Good recently." Karrossa nodded. "You see, I was wondering if you'd want to come with me. I have a little… theory that I need to test, and I need your help. So, will you come?"

Karrossa thought for a moment. "All right. I'll come," she said at last.

"Really? That'd be great! I'll come and get you before I head there tomorrow." Gabrielle was ecstatic. Karrossa would come! Finally, someone to see if her little experiment would work.

(PAGEBREAK!)

The next day, Gabrielle did as she said she would and went to pick up Karrossa. Together, they walked to Glinda's house. Karrossa hesitated a little on the front walk, but she kept her nerve.

Gabrielle knocked on the door, and the familiar maid came and took them to Glinda's room.

(Glinda's POV)

Glinda was shocked when Gabrielle came into her room—like she did everyday—with a frightened-looked girl, about Gabrielle's age, with shoulder-length, wavy red hair and piercing emerald green eyes.

Emerald…

"Oh, Elphie, look at you! You look positively emerald!"

Tears blurred her vision again, but she fought them off. She would not let this stranger see her cry. At least… she hoped so.

Gabrielle introduced her friend as Karrossa. Glinda responded in a wavering, throaty voice, "Nice to meet you."

Glinda didn't know what Gabrielle wanted her to say—and it was no doubt some wacky thing of Gabrielle's that Karrossa was here in the first place.

"Um… Karrossa… there's something you should know about Glinda…" Oh, no! Gabrielle, you won't! "She… she's not mad." Well, at least she didn't mention what I thought! "She's actually very intelligent, if you listen to her thoughts."

At this, Glinda raised a trembling hand. "Please, enough flattery. Just, lets get started up where we left off yesterday… if Karrossa knows about… about—you know." Glinda didn't want to say Elphaba outloud incase Karrossa didn't know.

"Um…" Gabrielle seemed very awkward… too awkward. What was she thinking! She knows what I go through every morning! "Well… you see… I've got this little… experiment I needed to try. And, well, Karrossa agreed to come here. So, I think we should tell her. Maybe if she understands, the rest of Oz will."

Glinda was stunned. "O-O… okay. She can know. Karrossa, do you remember the… the holiday last week? The one I've refused to celebrate for a while now?"

"You mean the-the death of the Wicked Witch?" Karrossa asked with wide eyes.

"Yes," Glinda answered through gritted teeth from Elphaba's stupid nickname. "That's the one. Didn't you ever wonder why? Why I gave up on it? Why I never liked that stupid day?"

It was Karrossa's chance to be stunned. "Uh… no. Never. I guess I didn't. And I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You were raised that way. Well. Go ahead, ask," Glinda said with a sort-of half-smile.

"All right. Why did you quit?" Karrossa really didn't want to ask, but she knew better than to defy Glinda the Good.

Glinda took a deep breath. Here goes everything. "Well, there's a simple reason. She was best friend."

A/N: HAH! Cliffhanger… because I ran out of ideas. I'll try to update weekly. Try. I'm not promising, so don't send me any nasty personal messages saying 'You said you'd update, and you didn't! OMG, I hate you!' Okay, I'm exaggerating here, but still!